Everyone and their Mom is neurodivergent now it seems.
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It’s another label to more easily separate people from each other.
It does have a meaning. I am on the spectrum and I am neurodivergent. But I also see a therapist and learn how to cope and deal better. I do not, however, tell everyone I am neurodivergent.
I will tell people I’m a bit naïve, please explain a bit clearer, or something along those lines.
I just feel people start throwing these terms around and, eventually, they just turn into ways to mock people.
I’m a kind person. I’d like you call me that if we’re focusing only on one aspect of who we are…
You know Google exists, right? Why go through the trouble of making a reddit post instead of just googling the term?
I can’t even call that lazy, since it’s actually more work to make a reddit post…
Everyones given good answers on what it is and why it was coined. But as for why its exploded in popularity, it can largely be attributed to things as simple as twitter bios. Its a basically used by people as a synonym for unique, and labeling yourself neurodivergent is an easy and accessible way to be a part of an in group.
If you have to watch other people extra to know what normal social interactions are because it doesn’t come innately to you, you’re masking and probably neurodivergent.
“Neuro” means ‘brain’ and “divergent” means ‘doing things a different way’ so it is a word used to describe people who’s brains work in a different way.
When I was little, I had a powerful sense of smell, so every smell was so strong it made me sick to my stomach. So my brain was telling me, “These things smell funny, they must be bad, get rid of the bad stuff you ate so you don’t get really ill!” Because of that I threw up everything I ate and kept having to be put in the hospital. It created a lot of extra problems in my life.
I also have thoughts that connect to each other and fly through my brain at super fast speeds that are so fast I can’t catch them and put those thoughts into words. My head would hurt and I would feel extra tired from thinking so hard and long about so many things all day. I would get really cranky and not understand why I felt so bad. I stopped trying to explain my thoughts because people would be upset that it took me too long to explain things and I felt tired from trying. One teacher even thought my brain wasn’t working much at all because I never spoke to her, when really I stopped speaking because I was tired of her being upset with my attempts to explain things. She wanted to get my brain tested to see if it was working well. A special person called a Developmental Psychiatrist (who knew all about how kids’ brains grow) tested my brain. She found out that not only did it work, it worked SUPER FAST.
They used to not know much about neurodiversity because the technology to study it was new, and there are many ways a brain can work differently-so many they didn’t even have names for all the different ways! We are still are pretty new to understanding how many ways a brain can work, what that looks like, whether these different ways are one condition or many, and even understanding what is even considered ‘normal.’ We are also pretty new to having information spread worldwide in seconds, so everyone suddenly knowing this information seems like everyone is suddenly talking about neurodivergence.
Because it covers multiple issues it means there are lots of people who would class as neurodivergent in someway. It’s a term that people are increasingly aware of and recognise, so realise if they are neurodivergent, so it’s getting used more, rather than an actual increase in these conditions.
You can think of it as a description of someone whose brain behaves in a different way to the majority of other peoples’ brains.
The term is a catch-all term to describe anyone whose brain does this. It doesn’t give specific info. And there are lots of ways a brain can be neurodivergent, so there are lots of people who are neurodivergent in someway.
Examples are:
– dyslexia
– dyspraxia
– dyscalculia
– autism
– adhd
– OCD
Many people usually think about neurodiversity from the point of view of its negatives (eg dyslexia and difficulty reading and writing). But because the brain processes information differently, there are often traits that someone with a certain form of neurodiversity are very good at
For example, people with dyslexia often have very good visualisation skills and good at mental 3D thinking. Often good at problem solving, making connections that others don’t see (probably because of the visualisation skills. Also often more creative and can be very observant. (I’m dyslexic and a nerd so have looked into things like this a lot)
Other examples of neurodiversity and the “positive” traits that are common in those with them are:
– adhd – hyper focus in areas of interest, energy and passion, creativity
– autism – fine detail processing, good memory and concentration
– Tourette’s and tic disorders – cognitive control
– dyspraxia – verbal skills
– acquired neurodiversity (eg following a stroke) – learned adaptability
See aLso: moron, idiot, cretin, imbeciLe, pin head, retarded, inteLLectuaLLy disabLed, differentLy abLed. These are many of the words from the past to describe those with diminished inteLLectuaL abiLity which are no Longer considered kind words.
Todays word is “Neurodivergent”, and it wiLL also be thrown aside when a new term is deemed friendLier/more incLusive.
Why is it “everywhere”? Because it is currentLy trendy to be seen as anything but “normaL” and cLaiming one is neurodivergent can be anything you Like, made up or not. I personaLLy am compeLLed to aLways use a capitaL L for some reason. Just a quirk of my neurodivergence I guess, Tehee.
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